The History of the Northern Boundary Section
The Northern Boundary Section began organizing in Minnesota in 1979 under the leadership of Dick Durst. An election for officers was held November 6, 1979, with the expectation that the USITT Board of Directors would approve our Section status at the December 8, 1979, meeting in Kansas City (which it did). The Section received its Charter from USITT on November 7, 1979 – so we actually had the Charter before the BOD approved the Section status --- hmmm. During a Section Executive Board meeting it was unanimously approved to include North and South Dakota in our Section and to name it the Northern Boundary Section (verified in a letter of inquiry from Susan Lassman Smith, Secretary of the Section, to Herb Greggs, Administrative Secretary USITT, dated January 4, 1980).
The first annual business meeting of the Section was held during the ACTF January 24, 1980, at St. Catherine’s in St. Paul, MN.
The first conference we attended as a Section was in 1980 in Kansas City.
The Section was officially incorporated as a non-profit corporation in the state of Minnesota on January 19, 1983.
Officers (boldface indicates founding officers):
Chair: Dick Durst (1979-1982), Ed Krehl (1982-86), Lance Brockman (1986-92), Steve Griffith (1992-1995), Mary Beth Gagner (1995-95), Treva Reimer (1995-2003), Rooth Varland (2003-----)
Senior Vice-Chair:Tom Bliese (1979-84), Lance Brockman (1984-86), Steve Griffith (1986-92), Peg Murphy (1992-93), Treva Reimer (1995-95), Jim Casey (1995-98), Greg Gillette (1998-01), Jim Trenberth (2001-03), Kathy Stewart (2003----)
Junior Vice-Chair: Ed Krehl (1979-82), Fred Lange (1982-86), Pat Dennis (1986-95), Brian Bjorklund (1995----)
Secretary:Susan Lassman Smith (1979-1982), Jean Montgomery (1982-92, pro tem 2001-03), Bill Wallace (1992-01), Esther Iverson (2003-06)
Treasurer: Fred Lange (1979-1982), Tim Kudalis (1982-86), John Justad (1986-88), Jean Montgomery (1988 ----)
Members-at-Large:
Tim Kudalis (1981-82)
Jeff Taylor (1982-88)
Larry Hill (1982-8x)
Lance Brockman (1982-86)
Peg Murphy (1988-92)
Bill Wallace (1988-92)
Tom Bliese (1984-88)
Arden Weaver (1992-95)
Vance Gerchak (1992-95)
Tim Case (1992-98)
Paul Sannerud (1992-95)
Kim LaFontaine (1992-97)
Adrian Durlester (1995-01)
Kelly Allison (1995-97)
Linda Pisano (2001-03)
Ron Stoffregren (2001-03)
Dave Borron (2001-03)
Arden Weaver (1995-03)
Greg Gillette (2001-03)
Todd Johnson (2003-06)
David Griffith (2003-06)
Sheila Tabaka (2003-06)
Jim Trenberth (1998-01, 2003-06)
Dan Keyser (2003-06)
(Board membership changed to regional representation following 1988-90 term of office: North, West, South, East, and Metro.)
Appointed Commissioners:
Architecture
Kevin Sullivan (1981-1982), Kerry Lafferty (1992-95), Dan Keyser (1988---)
Architecture
Co-Commissioner
Ed Krehl (1988-92)
Costume
Pat Dennis (1981-1982), Joy Erickson (1988-92), Mary Beth Gagner (1992-95), Kathleen Gossman (1995-2006)
Costume
Co-Commissioner
Chris Vesper (1988-92)
Scene Design/TD
Dennis Chandler (1981-1982 ), Don Larew (1988-92), Dan Keyser (1992-95)
Scene Design
Co-Commissioner
Paul Sannerud (1988-92)
Lighting & Sound
Brian Bjorklund (1982-88 ), Dick Borgen (1982-88 ). Dave Johnson (1988-95), Jim Trenberth (1995-01), Randy Susevich (2001-2003)
Lighting & Sound
Co-Commissioner
Dennis Chandler (1988-92), Peggy Sannerud (1992-95)
Sound Design & Tech Production
Martin Gwinup (1996-2006)
Publications/Newsltr
Lee Adey (1981-1982), Steve Griffith (1982-88), Brian Bjorklund (1988-95). Responsibility went under Junior Vice-Chair in 1995.
Membership
Dick Durst (1982-xx)
Education
Amy Rohrberg (1998-2006)
Int’l Liaison
Dan Keyser (1996-2006)
Student Liaison
Rachel Mero (2003-2006)
Lighting and Sound split in 1995; Education began in 1995; Int’l Liaison began in 1995; Student Liaison began in 1995.
In June of 1980 we held a seminar organized by Kevin Sullivan, Chairman of the Architecture Commission, on Theatre Architecture and Consultation – quite probably our first “event”. Richard Pilbrow was the guest lecturer and featured panelist. January saw a fabric modification workshop during ACTF led by Susan Lassman Smith, followed by NBS Winter Workshops ’81 at the University of South Dakota. March featured another architecture seminar, sponsored by NBS and MATC. For a first year in operation, we were certainly ambitious! The Section combined with the ACTF-Region V North in January 1982 to form the first Annual Festivention. Over the 27 years the Section has existed we have generally held at least two workshops a year – one in fall and one in January/February. The latter were often held in conjunction with the ACTF. The first fall workshop was held in 1982 at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis on the occasion of the10th anniversary of Rarig Center. Over the years hosts have included Hamline University, Macalester College, Minnesota State University-Mankato, North Dakota State University, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Concordia College-St. Paul, Minnesota State University-St. Cloud, University of South Dakota, Central College-Pella, Southwest State University, Augustana College-South Dakota, and St. Olaf College. We have visited KTCA, CTC, Vee Corporation, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, the Guthrie, the Ice Capades winter home in Duluth, and smelled the tulips in Pella, among many other sites around the four-state area. Guests have included Karl Eigsti, Desmond Heeley, Eric Fielding, Archie Sharp and John Iacovelli, and the host of folks associated with all the theatres and venues we’ve visited throughout the years.
The 1987 USITT Conference in Minneapolis was a defining moment for this section. We gathered as a group, put on a conference that is still remembered to this day by many USITT members, and retained extremely strong section ties to this day among our members following the conference. Many members of the section moved into positions with the national organization as a result of the work accomplished on the ’87 conference – and Tom Thatcher and Brian Bjorklund have continued working on the annual conferences in their new format.
In March of 1993 we ended our 10-year formal Section association with ACTF when Region V North and South merged into one humongous area that also included Colorado. We voted to stay closer to home and concentrate programming within our own boundaries. Sioux Falls in 1992 and Minneapolis in 1993 marked our last Festiventions. HOA continues the tradition when the ACTF location is within its reach.
We created our website in the summer of 1997, thanks to Cat Nelson. The first major renovation came in the summer of 2002 when it changed from its then prodominantly pink scheme to its current maroon and cream colors. The emphasis was changed from a dynamic site to a more static site, with pages of information that did not require lots of attention. The first membership application printed from the website was received in September 2002. The hosting of the website has now passed from being under Cat's website to being under the National website and the job of webmaster has passed to Corey Shelsta.
January 10, 2007
